"He didn't declare an emergency."
Well, yeah he did, but before our European friends get all upset, here's the deal;
Over here in the colonies we never used "Mayday," we have always said we are "Declaring an Emergency."
However, we recently made the change to "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday."
But it might take some time to make the change, on both sides of the mic. Some old habits are hard to break.
I'm sure this controller has been told and is now up to date.